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Shaving My Head Saved My Head

How Cutting My Hair off Helped My Mental Health I was walking to school. The rain was heavy, as if each drop were a glass full of water. I was miserable, and not just because of the weather. I’d just spent the last 20 minutes of my morning pawing fistfuls of V05 Matt Clay into my hair, convincing it to spike up in just the right way to impress my fellow Year Six cohorts. The deluge I was pushed…

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There's Something VERY Wrong with Playstation 5

There’s Something VERY Wrong with Playstation 5

There’s Something Wrong with Sony’s approach to the Playstation 5 that might put it a step behind its competitors.

2020 has been a weird one. A deadly virus has taken hold of the planet, everyone’s gone a bit mad and started smashing up the towns they live in, and the 2 most powerful countries in the world are being led head first into disaster by 2 men who can barely stand upright.

lord…

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WEEK ONE OF DARRYL DOES

WEEK ONE OF DARRYL DOES

It has been 7 days since I launched this crazy little idea. Here’s what’s happened so far…        

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[Hilarious Name Pending]

[Hilarious Name Pending] Leak, tease and reveal. Sounds like a porno...

This Week In Gaming It’s been quite a week – for me anyway. I’m still working on that new and exciting project (more info on that soon) so that’s why I’ve been a little quiet on here. Gaming never sleeps though and this week we’ve had a steady trickle of game news that is definitely worth taking the piss out of.   Bungie Tells us Destiny 2 is a Thing In the space of a 7 days, Destiny 2 got…

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[Hilarious Name Pending]

[Hilarious Name Pending] Got some news mate... It's about Sonic.

This Week in Gaming… It’s been quite a week. I’ve been busy working on something new and exciting (which you’ll see very soon) but I’ve still found the time to seek out the most interesting stories of the week…sort of.   Mass Effect: AndromeDERP It came out and looked like this: ‘Nuff said really..   An Assassin’s Creed TV Show is Happening… Great So after the Assassin’s Creed movie was such a…

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[Hilarious Name Pending]

[Hilarious Name Pending] I still don't have a name for this thing...

This week in gaming… 7 more days have passed which means it’s time for me to fill you in on all the gaming news that was mildly important. Oh, and I got to touch up a Nintendo Switch this week. That was fun. Kinda Funny Co-Founder Colin Moriarty Quits. Colin Moriarty has said his final farewell to the YouTube endeavour that he, Greg Miller, Nick Scarpino and Tim Gettys left IGN to form in 2015.…

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Some Honestly Good Beer

-- Some Honestly Good Beer -- @HonestBrew have this thing called a "Howler". It's amazing.

Honestly, this beer is honestly good. Honest. I like beer. A lot. Yes, it poisons my soul every time I drink too much of it and yes, that feeling of death breathing down my neck in the morning isn’t the most desirable, but I really quite like it. I’ve been known to drink anything, from the strongest of sediment laden Belgian beers to the cheapest pint of bitter Wetherspoons can offer me (Ruddles…

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[Hilarious Name Pending]

[Hilarious Name Pending] This week the UK games industry shits itself over #Brexit.

This Week In Gaming… Another week of news means another excuse to produce some #CONTENT. Here’s all the news that I could take the piss out of this week… No Man’s Sky Just Won’t Quit Not one to give up on a dead body, Hello Games announced a second update to its ambitiously shit title No Man’s Sky this week. The Path Finder Update adds a new vehicle that will “aid home planet exploration” so you…

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Taking Photos in Horizon Zero Dawn

Thank you for making such a wonderful world to photograph @Guerrilla.

Finally putting that expensive Masters Degree to good use… So I’ve got a Master’s Degree in photography. I don’t use it much, but I can take a damn fine photograph. Check out my Instagram if you don’t believe me. Anyway, I have become enamoured with Horizon Zero Dawn’s photo mode and I’ve found myself playing this game part hunter, part over-qualified photographer. The game is gorgeous and rife…

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I'm 25 Now

-- I'm 25 Now -- It was birthday on Monday. I turned 25. Shit.

“Reality continues to ruin my life” – Bill Watterson It’s been a long 25 years since I was forcefully squeezed out into this world against my will. In those 25 years of happenstance, I’ve been highly educated, comfortably oxygenated and heavily intoxicated a fair few times. I’ve been told what I should do, advised on who I should be and oftentimes judged for who I’ve chosen to be. I’ve been…

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[Hilarious Name Pending]

[Hilarious Name Pending] What happened in gaming this week. All in the name of #CONTENT.

This Week In Gaming… So I’m gonna start rounding up the hottest video game news stories of each week, all in the name of #CONTENT. Here’s all the shit that mattered this week: Shadow of Mordor Sequel Gets a Reveal (sort of) The long awaited Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor sequel has been revealed thanks to some professional ineptitude from American retailer Target. Under the moniker Shadow of War,…

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Is Ubisoft Getting its Shit Together?

-- Is Ubisoft Getting its Shit Together? -- No more radio towers to climb?

Are they finally taking down those radio towers? Relentless collectible tat. Endless enemy strongholds to clear out. Radio towers to climb, hack or burn. Some sort of enhanced “vision” mode to help out the stupid. All of these tiresome tropes are the unmistakable mark of a Ubisoft game; tropes that have now made the French publisher/developer’s titles tedious and beyond predictable. It is no…

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Is PewDiePie a Nazi?

-- Is PewDiePie A Nazi? -- When did we forget how to laugh?

No you fucking morons… YouTube mega star PewDiePie has once again made the headlines, this time because he’s a bit of a Nazi. Yep, the delicate, “my mum says I’m special” snowflakes of the world have picked up on a video PewDiePie uploaded nearly a month ago, didn’t quite get the joke and have since branded him a Hitler sympathiser. *sigh* The video in question was a 13 minute long exploration of…

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She Remembered Caterpillars // Jumpsuit Entertainment // Available on Steam now (£8.99)

There’s something deeper happening here

Despite sounding like an early 2000’s indie band, She Remembered Caterpillars is a spellbinding puzzle game hailing from developer Jumpsuit Entertainment. Its 40 enchanting colour-based conundrums combine painterly visuals, minimalist sound design and a sombre narrative that results in one of the finest puzzle games you’ll ever play.

At its core, She Remembered Caterpillars’ puzzles revolve around some brightly coloured critters called “Gammies”. The aim of each level is to guide these Gammies to a specified end-point, navigating a manner of obstacles along the way. These obstacles range from coloured bridges and gates to collapsable walk ways and colour changing showers that alter the Gammies’ hue. Each of these obstacles has unique characteristics and presents a certain degree of challenge to the player. Individually, these obstacles are relatively simple to conquer  (bridges will only let Gammies who match in colour to cross, gates will only let Gammies of an opposite colour pass through them, etc.) but it’s in their fiendish combination where things can get a little hairy. 

Fortunately, She Remembered Caterpillars does a stellar job of introducing these varied mechanics at a very manageable pace. In its initial opening hour or so, it uses some exquisite game design to ensure that no player gets left behind. It teaches you the core mechanics in very much the same way as Jonathan Blow’s The Witness does, letting the gameplay alone inform the player. In no time at all, you’ll know how to blend the three base colour Gammies (red, blue and yellow) to make the three additional colours (purple, orange and green). You’ll know how each of those coloured Gammies interact with the bridges. You’ll know exactly which gates each of them can pass through. You’ll easily get the hang of how to play She Remembered Caterpillars and find that you’re smashing through the levels at respectable pace. Then things will begin to change as the game slowly turns into a bit of a bastard.

This one had me pulling my hair out…

The later levels begin placing obstacles in what seem like impossible layouts and mind-boggling combinations. The sheer sight of some levels in She Remembered Caterpillars’ is truly exhausting and I have genuinely turned the game off more than once because I could not face what Jumpsuit Entertainment had thrown at me. But there’s a magnetism to She Remembered Caterpillars and time and time again it pulled me back, rewarding my perseverance. Every failure was a lesson and each step I commanded the Gammies to take taught me a little bit more about She Remembered Caterpillars’ charming, if a little frustrating world. 

Scratching the surface

The puzzles however, only signify what’s happening on the surface level of She Remembered Caterpillars. Each level is punctuated with screens of text that allude to some sort of narrative through-line. At first it’s ambiguous and not all that apparent in its subject. Its connection to the gameplay appears loose, almost confusing at times but as the game progresses that connection becomes clearer. She Remembered Caterpillars tells of a confrontation with death, specifically with the death of a parent. It explores this using those exquisitely written intersections that progressively give you a sense of purpose to what you’re actually doing in the game. It offers up some exposition to the gameplay and encourages the player to attempt a personal interpretation beyond the game itself.

Even now, days after I’ve finished She Remembered Caterpillars I still find myself going over it in my head. I’m going back just to read the text and piece together what She Remembered Caterpillars is all about, coming up with my own connections between the narrative and the gameplay. Through my own compulsions to understand the meaning of everything, I found myself theorising that the Gammies were some sort of infection and that each completed level indicated a step closer to death.

Am I right? Who knows, but it does illustrate the wonderful effect She Remembered Caterpillars has on the player. Its bread and butter are its puzzles but everything else that makes up the game takes it beyond a simpler puzzler and allows it to speak to something deeper than itself.

There is an obvious attention to detail with She Remembered Caterpillars, not just in the puzzle design but in every single aspect of the game. Its environments are atmospheric and enchanting. Its soundtrack is minimalistic, complimenting the visual styling and gameplay. The narrative between levels is sombre yet shrouded in a glimmer of hope. All of these moving parts work succinctly and in tandem with one another to produce a truly touching game and one of the best I’ve played in a long time.

To Conclude…

As a straightforward puzzler She Remembered Caterpillars can only be described as wonderful. Its puzzle mechanics, art style and sound design combine to create one of the best puzzle games in recent memory. She Remembered Caterpillars goes beyond this though, exploring themes and concepts that are seldom found in video games, let alone found in puzzle games. She Remembered Caterpillars asks the player to think beyond what it offers on a surface level, encouraging not only a deeper examination of the game but also a deeper examination of ourselves.

You should not pass up on this game.

Have you played She Remembered Caterpillars? Did you love it as much as me? Or am I just a bit too sensitive? Come and let me know over on Twitter @darryldoes!

  Full Disclosure – A code for She Remembered Caterpillars was kindly sent to me by Jumpsuit Entertainment. This did enable me to write this review but in no way did it alter my opinion on the game. It is genuinely brilliant. 

-- She Remembered Caterpillars Review -- @thejumpsuits have made quite a game here... She Remembered Caterpillars // Jumpsuit Entertainment // Available on Steam now (£8.99) There's something deeper happening here…

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Are We Fucked?

-- Are We Fucked? -- Is it really that bad? Or are we a bit too sensitive?

Or are we just a little too sensitive? It’s been a rough couple of months to be a human right? The middle-east is constantly on fire, the UK is pulling out the EU faster than Dwight Yorke tried to pull out of Katie Price and America has an orange dictator who isn’t too fond of brown people. It’s not too surprising then that the “we’re fucked” rhetoric has been ringing round the western hemisphere…

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Virginia - Review

-- Virginia - Review -- A walking simulator that goes a few steps further...

Speechless… Missing children, government conspiracy, crazy dreams about a buffalo and alien encounters – you name it, story driven title Virginia has it all. This 2 hour long interactive drama takes twists and turns like no other, providing an experience that shakes up the current stagnation found in its genre. Virginia comes by way of developer Variable State, and finds itself filed neatly into…

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Nintendo Switch Impressions

-- Nintendo Switch Impressions -- #NintendoSwitch looks a bit toss... shame that.

There’s not a lot that’s hot about Nintendo’s future, it’s all a bit lukewarm… You’re one of the most renowned video game companies EVER. You’ve had a rocky couple of years with your last console, but the value of your intellectual properties alone still has you amongst the key players of the industry. Your new console was revealed only a short time ago, with a trailer that convinced the public…